The present invention is directed to a display method which employs a spatial light modulator, such as a liquid crystal display or digital micromirror device.
A digital micromirror device is a spatial light modulator which employs an array of tiny mirrors, or micromirrors, whose positions can be electrically controlled in order to display an image. This technology has been developed extensively by Larry J. Hornbeck and others at Texas Instruments, Inc. of Dallas, Tex., and is described by them in a sequence of patents going back years. These developmental efforts have culminated in a digital micromirror device which includes an array of memory cells and a corresponding array of pivotable micromirrors whose positions are electrostatically adjusted by the contents of the memory cells. As is perhaps best described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,096,279 to Hornbeck et al, the array of pivotable micromirrors that cooperates with the memory cells can be made using integrated circuit fabrication techniques.
As is described in the above-identified patent, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,280,277 to Hornbeck, and in an article entitled “Mirrors on a Chip” that was published in the November, 1993 issue of IEEE Spectrum at pages 27–31 by Jack M. Younse, a negative biasing voltage is selectively applied to the micromirrors and to landing electrodes fabricated beneath them in order to obtain bistable operation of the micromirrors and simultaneous updating of the entire array of micromirrors. Sometimes the micromirrors get stuck. It is known that this problem can be cured by subjecting the micromirrors to resonant reset pulses which electrostatically dislodge any stuck micromirrors.
It is also known to make a color display using a single digital micromirror device by sequentially exposing it to red, green, and blue light impinging from a single direction. A white lamp and a color wheel can be employed for this purpose. In situations where it is economically feasible to devote three digital micromirror devices to a display, each of them can be illuminated by light of a different primary color and the resulting red, green, and blue images can then be superimposed on a screen.
Advances have also been made in other types of display apparatuses. For example U.S. Pat. No. 5,122,791 to David J. Gibbons et al discloses a ferroelectric LCD panel which is selectively backlit by red, green, and blue fluorescent tubes. The intensity or duration of the backlighting is controlled on the basis of the rank of the bits that are being displayed on the panel.
Applicant's U.S. Pat. No. 5,416,496 also employs a ferroelectric LCD that is back-lit with colored lights. The colored light may be generated in flashes whose intensity is controlled on the basis of the rank of the video information bits that are being displayed. Alternatively, instead of flashes of light, the LCD panel may be illuminated by light that is generated steadily, and whose intensity is determined by the rank of the bits that are being displayed. In the latter alternative, the pixels of the panel are turned on in accordance with the video information on a row-by-row basis, and are subsequently turned off in accordance with the same video information, again on a row-by-row basis. As a result, each pixel that is turned on and then turned off receives the same amount of light regardless of its row, so the LCD can be addressed row-by-row with video information while the LCD is being illuminated.
Applicant's U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,348,907 and 6,535,187 are directed to displays using LCDs and DMDs. These patents disclose a variety of techniques for varying and controlling the intensity of light falling on a spatial light modulator and feeding bit ranks of digital words that define an image to the spatial light modulator in a coordinated manner. The patents also disclose other advances, including displaying an image frame during multiple revolutions of a color wheel, a DMD with micromirrors having pivot axes in orthogonal directions (for illumination by light impinging in three directions), and alternatives to the use of resonant reset pulses to dislodge stuck micromirrors and electromechanical latching to update all micromirrors simulatneously.